minister says his country strongly endorses >> this is aljazeera america. live from new york city, i'm richelle carey. tony harris is on assignment. gasoline on a fire, that's how defense secretary ash carter is characterizing russia's airstrikes in syria. a major hurdle for middle east piece. the palestinian president said that he is not bound by agreements with israel. secret meetings between the pope and the kentucky clerk who opposes same-sex marriage.

we begin in syria, where russia has carried out it's first airstrike intended to be against isil targets. bashar al-assad asked for help. and vladimir putin made no secret his desire to see bashar al-assad stay in power, and that's in direct conflict with u.s. policy. a short time ago, john kerry and lavrov said that officials from both countries will meet together to it discuss this situation. mike viqueira joins us from washington, and mike, how is the administration responding to the russian airstrikes in syria >> reporter: richelle, there's no question, since the

buildup in syria, americans are caught surprised and flat footed. yes, the russian move is like pouring gasoline on a fire, and you saw kerry and lavrov, they met behind closed doors at the united nations, but before that time, it's still unclear. this was the aftermath. 20 flights in all said the russian defense ministry, asserting that they hit isil tarts within syria, and others on the ground report extensive civilian casualties, and others, including ashley ash car were taken by surprise by russia's aggressive moves in syria. >> this is not the time that we should expect professional from the russian military >> reporter: the u.s. was informed at the last minute, said officials, delivering a blunt message to baghdad.

russian bombs will fly soon, and coalition forces should stay clear. it was not when, but who was targeted that angered the administration. the u.s. administration said that russian bombs hit areas where there were no known isil fighters. a clear implication, russia is bombing groups fighting on the side of the u.s. secretary of state john kerry issued a warning. >> we would have grave concerns, should russia strike areas where isil and al qaeda affiliated tarts are operating. >> meeting monday, president obama and valid valid pledged to avoid conflicts between u.s. and russian airplanes in syria, but before those talks got off the ground, russia launched it's strikes. and they stated their reason for intervention in syria, to support bashar al-assad.

the u.s. insists that bashar has no role in syria's future. he is trying to rescue russia's last ally in the middle east. >> russia is not going to be successful in this, and they will be no more successful than the united states in opposing iraq, and certain no more than russian efforts in afghanistan three decades ago. >> reporter: and richelle, we're learning a new word, deconfliction. that was between sergei la lavr. no shooting and no accidental conflict between the u.s. military and the u.s.-led coalition and russia as they carry out airstrikes, and still no there, and officials in the united states and washington insisted today that the u.s.-led airstrikes, now

numbering more than 1,000 in the past year, are going to continue regardless of what russia does. richelle. >> all right, mike viqueira, we'll have much more on russia's airstrikes in syria, and what they mean for the u.s.-led airstrikes in syria. and also, today at the u.n., the historic raising of the palestinian flag. for the first time ever, it will fly before the united nations headquarters in new york. and before that, the palestinians delivered a speech that will no doubt heighten tensions with israel, about the peace process. john terrett joins us from the united nations with this pretty remarkable speech. john. >> reporter: richelle, good evening to you, mahmoud abbas

effectively is handing the keys to the occupied territories right back to israel. the palestinian authority is bound no more, that's the threat by palestinian president, mahmoud abbas. he went before the general u.n. assembly and said that los angeles israel continues to break its agreements, palestine will. >> israel has left us no choice that we last name be the only ones committed to the agreements. >> the oslo agreements, with arafat and rabim, did not demand the two state solution to pave the way for peace to settle their differences, but while the agreements mark the first time that israel and palestine recognized each other, key measures failed to be implemented. israel remains in control of much of the west bank, though

the agreements called for full palestinian authority in 1999. as many as 3,000 additional israelis went to the west bank when the accords were signed. checkpoints in west bank it cities not bordering the settlements continue to be monitored by israel, and abbas called once again for the real of 6,000 palestinians in israeli prisons. >> we therefore declare that we cannot be continue to be bound by these signed agreements with israel. and israel must assume full responsible as an occupying power. >> the threats to is dissolve the authority would make israel responsible for the wellbeing of all of the memberships in the authorities, and put an end to the accords. >> it's not just the united nations, but to trade commerce, give access, and health, water,

be electricity and many other aspects. >> abbas' warning, which he called a bombshell, comes as the union raised the palestinian flag outside of its headquarters in new york. palestine joining the vatican as the only non-member be observer state allowed to fly its flag, along with full member states. that after his repeated insistence that the world body recognize palestine. >> it's uncancable in light of all of the sack identifications we have made and all of the years of suffering. it's not fair for the issues facing the palestinians to resist to remain unresolved for all of these decades. >> tonight, benjamin netanyahu is calling mahmoud abbas' speech deceitful. and he called on them to act responsibly. john kerry said that the peace between the two is not an

impossible dream. and they will make after effort do get both sides talking again. >> all right, john terrett. thank you very much. and the accord, it applies to two agreements, the first in washington in 2003, and the second two areas later. they recognize each other's existence, something that was groundbreaking at the time. and the accords laid out a path that was supposed to lead to the creation of a palestinian state in five years, but more than two decades later that has not happened. under the agreement, the palestinians were able to set up a civilian government in much of the west bank and gaza, but ultimately israel had control. and the accords never released the status of jerusalem. now a major city from the taliban, many people have fled the northern city since the

taliban took control. and the fighting has been much tougher than the afghan forces originally planned. >> reporter: as reinforce wants arrived and heavy fighting continues, afghans are trying to take kune dues from the taliban. >> the first, they put the mines in the roads, and also, -- >> the captain and his fellow fighters haven't been able to reach their target yet. insisting that because taliban fighters are hiding among the civilians, the fights so far have been much harder than anticipated. even here, just south of kunduz, the forces have been ambushed on the main road and hit by improvised bombs. >> the province --.

>> afghan government forces, now backed by u.s. airstrikes, and nato special forces, are desperate to regain control of the northern city by taliban fighters. the loss of kunduz is being seen as a major setback for the government, and one of the major victories since the overthrow of the government in 2001. realizing questions once more about the strength and the effectiveness of afghan's army. now anger is on the rise in parliament, with some calling on the president to resign. >> we don't want to hear any more lies. government telling us that they are sending troops, but it has been 24 hours since the people inside of the city are suffering with no food, water or electricity. and children are dying inside of kunduz. >> many are fleeing for their lives, and while the number of dead and wounded is still

unclear, aid workers fear that many more civilians maybe killed or injured if the fighting continues. >> the house of representatives has approved a bill to keep the government funded until december, nearly avoiding a shutdown. the conservative republicans were willing to shut down the government in order to end the funding for planned parenthood. and while that lost much of its momentum since speaker, john boehner announced that he was stepping down. michael shure joins us, and tell us what happened on the house floor today. >> reporter: it was a tumultuous day today, and people coming in, people weren't sure how it was going to play out. and today, the senate voted 78-20 to move forward and keep the government going, and it then went to the house. and there was a little bit of a kerfuffle because it seemed that many of the house members

were not happy with it, and they wanted to move and start bringing up the planned parenthood argument on the floor. what they did, they attached an amendment and it was a non-binding amendment and they moved on the funding the amendment and did it. but there was no victory dance for this, because it only funds the government until december 11th, richelle, and that had some in congress, like new yorker, steve israel, unhappy. >> success can't be defined as avoiding catastrophe. and all we're doing today is avoiding catastrophe. the majority's triumph today is not shutting down the government. new. and that's what a lot of the members of the house, especially on the democratic side were saying. yes, we got this done, and we're funding the government and moving ahead. but we'll have to visit this again in december. richelle? >> in other words, you don't get a cookie for doing your job, and new leadership, is

anything going to change in the house. >> it's difficult to predict. a lot of what's going to happen between now and it december 11th is a lot of negotiations between john boehner and the white house, and john bane senior going to try to clean the barn before he gets out of there. and when new leadership gets in, you'll probably have much more of a conservative leader than kevin mcing carthy and if he's conservative, it may change the dynamics, but the fundamentals have not changed just because john boehner is leaving. >> and john boehner is leaving and what can we expect from him in his last days as speaker? >> that's just it. he says that he wants to be active and a lot of republicans, i spoke to dave bratt, the conservative from virginia, and he's the one that beat eric cantor in the election last year, and he said in order for boehner to negotiate these things with the white house in tandem with

mitch mcconnell, he's going to have to bypass the committee system. and any budget negotiation has to go through committee. so already, before there's a new speak, they're still having problems with john boehner, and the conservatives are going to have to figure it out and so too boehner in the waning days, but he says that he's not going to be a lame duck speaker until october 30th. >> michael, thank you. tulsa county sheriff has resigned after a grand jury investigating the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man. the victim was shot by a volunteer deputy while he was being subdued. the family accused him of not carrying out official duties, while not releasing documents related to the shooting. the pope and kim davis. the vatican's and their secret meeting. and taking on the refugee

crisis, the solution that the european leaders are bringing to the table.

>it has been a secret until now but kim davis, the kentucky clerk who went to jail for denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples, went to the

vatican embassy for a meeting with the pope. >> many thought that the pope struck the right chord between liberals and conservatives. live television cameras captured almost every minute of the pope's u.s. tour. but one meeting with a very controversial figure was definitely out of the spotlight. >> it was really very humbling to think that he would even want to meet me or know me. >> reporter: kim davis, the kentucky clerk who refuses to give marriage licenses toecaps saps, the vatican now confirms that she was invited to a secret meeting with pope francis in washington last week. >> i put my hand out and he grabbed it, and i hugged him. and he hugged me. he said thank you for your currently. >> kim davis and her husband agreed to keep the encounter a secret until after the pope left. but she says that she met with francis for 15 minutes, and he gave her these two roseries.

he defended religious freedoms, including on the plane leaving america. >> i can see that conscientious objection is a part of every human right. if a government official is a human being, that's their right. it's a human right. >> but gay catholic groups consider the meeting a slap in the face. their requests to meet him were ignored. >> they feel very hurt and very rejected by this meeting between the pope and kim davis. i think that any message that looks inclusionary and feels inclusionary to people hurts our church and hurts people. >> though the church sees homosexuality as a sin, many thought that he had softened his stance to gays and lesbians, and this meeting sends a very different message. >> not only kim dais, but

anybody who believes that religious liberty and same-sex marriage is income patible. and i think that that's the message that a lot of people are taking away from the meeting. >> reporter: davis is not be catholic, but devout christian. she's back at work and still refusing to sign the licenses. seeing his holiness, she says, has only renewed her faith. >> he told me before he left, stay strong. and that was a great encouragement. and i'm prepared to do whatever it takes. >> reporter: and he never mentioned same-sex marriage, but davis' attorney did take photos of the meeting, but those have not been released. richelle? >> thank you. robert moynihan is the founder of the magazine and he was the first to report on the meeting between pope francis and kim davis, and how did this meeting come to be? >> the meeting came to be,

because there was a coincidence of interest. and some people in the vatican felt that it would be good for the pope to give encouragement to a woman who in the heart of kentucky, had out of conscience taken a stand, which was then criticized, vilified, and led her to be in jail. they did not want this meeting to be the center of the trip. they did not the kim to be overcome, and they certainly did not want a podium and a stage. they want today as a personal

meeting between the pope and this woman, who through strange destiny had become a lightning rod for this debate over marriage, but also, and i would emphasize this, in a certain sense, unrelated to the question of marriage, the question of whether a person of conscience or concern about one's conscience belief has to yield to the state. >> so a couple of things here first. are you saying that the reason that this information wasn't released until after the pope had left is because they were trying to protect her privacy? >> in part, i am saying that, yes. >> you don't think that -- >> it was not an ideological meeting. if anything, it was a personal encounter, so similar to the ones that we saw in public, but

this one couldn't be in public, so it was an encounter between the spiritual leader of the catholic church. >> why couldn't it be in public? so many of his other meetings were in public, and why couldn't this be in public? >> for the same reason that you're asking about it now. there's such interest in it, and it's a divisive issue in our country, and nobody wished to be divisive. but recognizing that it may occur that kim davis, with following her very strong beliefs, will end up again in prison, there was a sense that someone, and there was a desire that the pope should have the chance to meet with her, and give her a sense that in her conviction, she was acting in keeping with her human right. >> let me ask you this: while the pope's tone on

homosexuality has been a kinder tone, and specifically when he says things like, who am i to judge, he has not strayed from church doctrine in any way, so should people actually be surprised that he has met with her? some have been surprised. but should they be surprised? >> . >> well, i think it is surprising, yes. >> why? >> because it's -- it's an out liar, as it were. it didn't fit in a sense with the trip that was otherwise very carefully orchestrated, and choreographed to be inclusive and respectful, and not really causing any major media waves. and this would have caused that, and in some senses is

causing that, although it seems actually not to be causing as much of a stir as i might have expected. >> having said that, can you understand why some lgbt members of the catholic church do feel slighted? >> well, i think they're unrelated questions. i think this was a question of freedom of conscience of someone who is a public official, but also a deeply believing person who feels that the oath of office that she took in the state of kentucky asked her to provide marriage licenses to men and women -- that oath has never been -- >> they asked her to follow the law. >> asked her to follow that law, yes, that's the oath she took. i don't see her as a person who is a scoff law. or intentionally breaking the

law. i see her as a person who is profoundly conflicted. she would love to find a way where she can understand what she's doing as right and good, and in keeping with her role, but she can't find that. so we have a perfect case of conflict of conscience. and in this, there's a lot of suffering, and i would say that some people, if they could empathize with that suffering might even say that they feel a certain solidarity with her. >> but bottom line, mr. moynihan, she did break the law, and thank you very much for coming on to talk about it. robert moynihan, the founder and editor of inside the vatican magazine, he broke the story, thank you very much. still ahead, the death penalty and pleas for mercy from the pope. a loo look at long-standing

opposition to capital punishment in the u.s. and plus, russian strikes in syria, and what it could mean to the region and with the u.s.

>> russian war planes carried out strikes between syria. and they seem to be aimed at propping up syrian president, assad. >> the fact that russia has to take these noteworthy steps to afternoon up their support for assad is an under case of how concerned they are about losing influence in the one-client state they have in the middle east. >> russia said that the operation will be limited to airstrikes, and peter sharp has more from moscow. >> it's to be said that the russian airstrikes were expected. they have been steadily building up their military arsenal in syria for the last 30 days, and they have 60

aircraft on the tarmac at the air base, but it was of course not the kremlin that announced that it had been taking place, but the u.s. central command that had given notice of intentions. they hit isil tarts that hit communication bases and arms and fuel dutches, and president putin was quick to announce that the support from russia will only come from the air, and he had a political warning for president assad, basically telling him what the price he'll have to pay for russian support. he said you're going to have to compromise. >> reporter: we proceed from the facts that long-term in syria is possible, or any political reforms of dialogue between healthy forces in the country. i know that president assad understands that, and he's ready for the process. we hope that his position will be active and flexible.

and he's willing to compromise for the sake of his country and his people. >> reporter: and the military buildup continues as the russian fleet is conducting exercises in the waters between cyprus and syria. these are live fire exercises, and the civilian aircraft have been told to stay away from the area. according to the u.n. convention, these exercises are legal, blue its worrying nato definitely. and they're getting more and more armed vessels in an area that's already militarized. and that could upset the stability in the middle east. >> that's peter sharp reporting from moscow. professor swift is from georgetown, and he joins us from washington d.c. we appreciate your time. and so if you go back to monday, and vladimir putin was addressing the u.n. general assembly, he basically said he thought that al-assad should stay in power, and he wanted to take on terrorism. so we kind of knew something

like this was coming, and we didn't know when, but now the airstrikes are happening, and are those two things in conflict, wanting to keep assad in power, and targeting isil? >> well, i think they offer some value, those two positions offer some valuable insight into the way that the kremlin, and vladimir putin in particular look at the challenge in the middle east. if you look at their operations today, and i pulled some russian maps of those air operations. all of those operations hit rebel-held territory, immediately in opposition to assad regime territory. and none of those struck isis, and that's consistent with the way that vladimir putin looks at these kinds of operations. if you look at their operations in chechnya, and what we see today, the russian forces target the moderates, and leave the population between the

regime that they support. and the far end of the spectrum. that's what we see happening based on their operations, and that shows how the kremlin looks at these, and if that's the strategy that they're going to deploy in syria over the next few months, it's going to make the situation there very desperate indeed. >> what's the goal then? the strategy is to get him where? >> sure, if you look at the way that the russian federation in particular the putin regime has intervened in muslim authority societies, whether it's chechnya or syria, their approach is to identify clients that they can prop up, and to build up the apparatus of the state with the particular client and sort of hollow out the middle of the zis entand leave the population with a choice between their client and the worst of the extreme. and that's what they have done by doubling down on assad's

strategy of targeting the rebel movement rather than making peace with them, and allowing isis to encroach on territory. it's difficult. but ultimately, you have to look at what russia's goal is here, and it's to maintain it's client's relationship with the assad regime, not withstanding the fact that vladimir putin has expressed an interest with targeting isis. >> so talking about now, there's going to have to be some sort of -- i think that the word we have heard a lot today, deconfliction, i think that i'm getting that word right. and how is that supposed to happen now? because clearly this muddies the situation in syria. >> right. well, there's going to be some military -- there needs to be some military to military communication between u.s. central command and others involved in the anti-isis coalition, and the russian ax add coalition, and that's not going to be at the level of policy or strategy, because russian and u.s. strategy are

fundamentally opposed in syria right now, but in terms of making sure that our airplanes don't accidentally fly into space where they're operating and visa versa, that's the kind of deconfliction that we're talking about. but look, if putin's regime continues with the kinds of operation that's they conducted today, they're not going to be striking the same targets that the coalition is going to be striking, but hitting moderate sunni rebels in syria, rather than hitting the moderates that the united states is after. >> is vladimir putin in this for the long-time? >> he is, and syria is the only client state that the russian federation currently has in the greater middle east. and the second is they have military bases and naval bases and a small airfield on the syrian coast. and they have made a tremendous investment in terms of political capitol, weapons,

financing in supporting the assad regime. but the most important thing to remember here, when putin is thinking about syria, he's not seeing it through the eyes of bashar al-assad. what putin is seeing is the conflict between a strong state and an islamic insurgency through the eyes of his own experience in chechnya in the early 2,000s through to a few years ago, and that experience that the russians have in fighting is shaping what they're doing, and likely to do in syria going forward. >> christopher swift from georgetown university, professor. thank you. world leaders are meeting at the u.n. at this hour to discuss possible solutions to the mass migrations of hundreds of thousands of people. the number of people leaving their native countries in search of safety is the highest it has been since world wa worl, and today, the secretary

general of the u.n. called on world leaders to do more to help them. >> reporter: war and conflict in persecution are forcing people from their homes in record numbers around the world. the u.n. said it's stretched thin. it needs more money to save lives and help survivors. >> over the last year, more than 60 million people have been forced from their homes. desperate conditions are compelling people around the world to move. >> that's why u.n. secretary general, banco moon, sat down with dozens of world leaders on wednesday and asked them to do more together. >> i wanted to have some global discussions, how we can bring a sense of hope to those helpless people. [ audio difficulties ] >> since early 2011, the biggest driver of this exodus

[ audio difficulties ] >> urgently needed for all neighboring countries. to face migratory pressures. >> reporter: refugees washing up on european shores, and their journeys across the continent has raised awareness in the west about their plight. but millions of others are on the move, fleeing instability in countries including somalia. the u.n. secretary general has asked for $20 billion to meet these growing needs human rights activists ask for millions of dollars to help them. >> they're fleeing because of human rights abuses, and that means that the u.n. security council which has been deadlocked because of the

issues on syria, needs to come together and take decisive action. >> the leaders offered their own solutions to address the migrant and refugee crisis. >> coming with the standards in all of europe, but that's still a long way to go. >> migration must be orderly, safe, regulated and responsible. >> the president has just announced that we will accept 85,000 refugees this coming year around the world and 85,000 the following year. but let us be clear, whatever we're doing is demonstrablely not enough. >> people need to put more pressure on government leaders to turn their words into actions. >> questions about lethal injection protocol led to a last-minute it stay of execution for an oklahoma inmate who was supposed to be

put to death this afternoon. richard blos on was given a 30-day stay. and the governor is urged to community the sentence. not even a letter from the pope could stop the execution of the first woman executed in 30 years. kelly was executed for the murder of her husband. and the pope asked for her life to be spared. more on the death penalty. >> he has walked freely for more than a decade. but time has done little to soften john thompson's outrage. he spent eight years on death row, wrongly convicted of murder. >> sitting there waiting for them to kill you for something that you didn't do. >> reporter: he's one of ten men louisiana, exonerated from death sentences in the last 30 years. crucial dna evidence was

discovered a few weeks before his scheduled execution. sister helen, a roman cath olympic nun, and the author of the best-selling book, dead men walking, said that it's a broken system, one that led the catholic church to reemphasize it's long-standing position to capital punishment. >> every ten times the death penalty is given, it's because a white person is killed. and when people of color are killed, it'snence. >> speaking before congress in his visit, pope francis called to stop executions. >> convinced that are just, and in this society, punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope, and the goal of -- >> the death penalty is still

legal in 31 states, though the number of execution innings the u.s. is at a 20--year low. the number of death sentences has also dropped dramatically in the past ten years, but that's not the trend in shreveport, louisiana. where the attorney, dale cox is at odds. he says that the death penalty should be used more, not less, particularly in cases where children or elderly are killed. >> if you think that the heinousness of this crime is so bad that society deserves the right to pass judgment on the sentence, then you go forward and you seek it. >> in fact, cox is responsible for securing more than one-third of louisiana's death sentences in the past five years, and despite louisiana's history of wrongful convictions, he says that he can't let past mistakes keep him from doing his job. >> you take the oath to enforce the law. if you can't do it, get out of

the job. that's the answer. does that put me at odds with roman catholic church's position on the death penalty? yes, it does, and as a catholic, that is a cause of concern for my soul. it is something that i pray about. but i cannot violate my oath of office. >> john thompson hopes that the pontiff's message about capital punishment will force lawmakers to talk about the issue that for him is not political, but deeply personal. jonathan martin, aljazeera. >> for the loved ones of prisoners, a phonecall is often the only way to stay in touch, but those calls can come at an absorbent cost because of the cozy relationship between the phone companies and prison. >> every year on their birthdays, bethany fraser's boys looked forward to a

special phonecall. one that would often have her running to pick it up. the voice on the other end was from their father, in prison where he served time for hitting and killing a man while driving drunk. >> how important was it to have your kids to talk to their father, though he wasn't here? >> over time, it was important for everybody to stay connected. and the kids are my core concern. they need to know, i do have a dad. and he's not here, he cares about me, and what he did has nothing to do with me. >> reporter: bethany did everything she could to keep her family connected. her youngest was just two when the accident happened. and she didn't want her son to forget his dad while he paid the price for his crime. what she didn't realize is the price that she would pay to keep them in touch. >> how much money do you think that you spent in total? >> i could have easily spent up to $500 a month. >> reporter: bethany isn't

alone. there are 2.2 million people in our nation's jails. all potential for the industry, accused of price gowning and taking advantage of the captive market. peter is the director of a prison justice reform group. and he believes a sweetheart relationship between the service providers and the jails. telephone companies pay jails and prisons hundreds of millions in commissions in turn for exclusive contracts. >> commissions, that's a polite word for a kickback. they can be 60%, 70p., 90% of the call goes back to the facility that gives the contract. >> sheriffs like dana are speak being out defending the commission that's they receive. >> all of that money goes to the jail operations. >> reporter: he says his facility receives $150,000 in

commissions each year, which pays for basic inmate services, like tvs and microwaves but also the high cost of monitoring inmate phonecalls. >> people are known to run murder-for-hire cases owl of jail. so it's not just somebody sitting around making telephone calls back home to mom. there are people making many many calls, and not always for the right reasons. >> reporter: earlier this year, bethany's husband was released from prison. today, he's doing his best to reconnect. though she's not any longer paying for calls, bethany hopes that the fight for what she says is fair will make an impact for the future. aljazeera, maryland. >> and you can see more of lori jail's reporting tonight at 10:00 p.m. up next, balancing

tradition with growth. how the leaders are hoping to keep the sport alive. and plus -- >> tonight, we're watching two major events taking place, flooding along the eastern seaboard. and that's going to continue as well as hurricane joaquin, which is in the bahamas, and that's heading to the united states. i'll bring you all of the details when i return.

>> much of the eastern u.s. is experiencing flooding today after heavy storms. conditions that could get even worse if hurricane joaquin heads toward the coast. for now, the storm is expected to bring flash flooding to the bahamas, before heading north. kevin corriveau is here with all of the details. >> reporter: it's going to be a very bumpy week, and first of all, let's go to the flooding situation that we have been watching since this past weekend in florida, and it has moved all the way up the he east coast. and we're still seeing quite a bit of rain. but first of all, i want to show you video that has come

out of north carolina. this is along the coastal areas, where they have seen coastal flooding here. and it has caused big problems, and they're still concerned, especially with joaquin coming into play, this could be a major problem, and then, i want to show you what's going on in portland, maine. look at this. we have been seeing major flooding. in some parking lots, water all the way up to the passenger windows. a very dangerous situation, and this is continuing. we still have watches and warnings in effect across this area. and we do expect over the next several days to get at least nine more inches of rain across this region. and that's not even including what we can see with the storm. so here's hurricane joaquin. it's a category 1 storm across the bahamas, and hurricane warnings are in effect right now across much of the bahamas, including nassau and freeport. this is going to cause a lot of

flooding across the bahamas, but once the storm starts to move to the north, we expect it to become a major hurricane, and with this forecast, we're expecting to see it landfall as we go toward sunday and also into monday. here's a category 3 near cape hatteras, and putting that into motion, it's going into chesapeake bay, we're going to see not only a major storm surge, but major flooding, so we'll be watching this track to see if there are any changes, and we expect to see a little bit more to the west and the east. >> a major step for the argentine government today when it comes to internet communications. the country launched it's second tell communications satellite. and it's expected to save the country millions of dollars dollars and pay for internet and telecommunications service.

for a look at the top of the hour, adam is here. >> reporter: coming up tomorrow at 8:00, russian airstrikes, it's an unpredictable new element in syria. we're going to examine the differences between the east and the west. and the elements of disaster between russia and the u.s. >>. >> and a watershed moment. we saw the palestinian colors raised above the united nations today. for some it represents progress, but for others, a great concern. how today's event will change the events between the palestinians and israelis. and today, drilling for oil, it's dangerous and dirty and uses lots of energy to be pumped out of the ground. >> oil industry is one of the world's largest users of energy. >> it is, but now clean, reusable solar power is used to ex fract oil, and the concerns that it brings up for many. it was a groundbreaker and

innovator and show man. the work of pablo picasso is still going around the world. and the fans are about to see more of it in the form of sculptors. we'll have those stories coming up in a few minutes, richelle. >> taikwando is one of the most popularrer sports in korea. but that could change because mainly because of the changing habits of the nation's children and a rise in another style of martial arts. more from seoul, sout south kor. >> in the hills above south korea's capital, he prepares himself. but he doesn't teach the master sport these days, but he has become a master of another korean art. >> very strong, but it's soft. and looks like dancing. it's very comfortable. my instructor emphasized to me,

the mind. >> reporter: there is some argument over the history of taekkyon, when the japanese nearly wipe today out. but he says that it brings him closer to his country's heritage. it's still rooted in its history at a time when taikwando has moved from marshal art to more of a point scoring sport. it's both. it's a marshal art in studios, and now secure in as olympic status. the sport has helped extend taikwando's reach. but pressure pads, with its style often with the flowing kicks of be marshaler arts. it's a problem that the sport's president wants to fix. >> marshal art taikwando can not be changed. we have to respect and we have to keep all of the traditions.

but as a sport, especially olympic sports, you have to change. >> taikwando's spiritual home, it can be hard. >> it brings me closer to my friends, and i think it's good for my future as well. so i'm working harder. >> for these kids, it's an exception. the number of korean children keeping up the practice through their school years is declining. >> in junior high and high school, they're more focused in their study. to get into good universities. so i think that that's why in junior high school and high school, it's not very popular. >> it can't compete with its better known cousin. but no pads, no points or

replays. just kicks to the head and throws to the floor, and it's all over. harry faucet. aljazeera, seoul. >> adam may and up next, so keep it here.

>> this is al jazeera america. live from new york. i'm adam may filling in for john siegenthaler.enter russia. john siegenthaler. enter russia. pentagon grows suspicious feeling the civil war in syria could become worse. ultimate